AS IT HAPPENED | Mantashe's attacks on De Ruyter 'unfair, uncalled for', says Gordhan

That's it. No follow up questions were allowed. - Kyle Cowan

COMMENT | The minister is shielding Makwana on issues around his lack of public support for De Ruyter. The media are also not getting any real opportunity to ask questions. This after Makwana and Gordhan spoke at length in platitudes. - Kyle Cowan

One doesn't have to have public spats, Gordhan says, to discourage people in Cabinet or outside it, to make comments that damage confidence in an institution, people have different styles. - Kyle Cowan

Addressing Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe's accusation that De Ruyter and Eskom management were "actively agitating for the overthrow of the state", Gordhan said: 

"In relation to the overthrow of the state [comment] and [whether De Ruyter is a] traitor, the emphatic answer is no. I am not going to qualify it in any way. Whatever commentary one might have about an individual, it is absolutely unfair and uncalled for to use that kind of language for somebody who tried their best to get Eskom out of the mess it was in. The more knowledgeable people know that the mess did not start in 2019... or in 2012. It started a long time ago and there is a long list of people who must be held responsible for decisions they did not make in the right way."

Gordhan says he is working on getting government to assist Eskom with diesel supplies. - Kyle Cowan

COMMENT: This is typical of the lack of support De Ruyter continues to receive. Makwana is the board chairperson who still refuses to defend De Ruyter.

Makwana dodges a question from Chris Yelland, says the media should ask Gwede Mantashe. "I don't think I am qualified to determine whether or not Mr De Ruyter is a traitor." - Kyle Cowan

I do not think it is within my purview to determine whether Mr De Ruyter is a traitor or not, says Makwana in response to a question. - Azarrah Karrim

Makwana on delays to appointing the board of the National Transmission Company says the board has only been appointed for 85 days. He neglects to mention the names for the board candidates were finalised in February 2022 and have been with government in the interim. - Kyle Cowan

Spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha apologises to the media who attended the briefing in Megawatt Park - despite all the Eskom representatives dialing in. He says they were all "just commandeered" to come online for the briefing. - Azarrah Karrim

Gordhan now turns to "all employees in Eskom". Now is the time to stand up against corruption and work for the country, he says. Do not be tempted by bribes, he says. The honest people in Eskom now need to stand up and take the fight to the corrupt so that Eskom returns to its prideful place among SOEs. - Azarrah Karrim

Gordhan now speaks about De Ruyter - and thanks him and his family, for their sacrifice, and for him taking the "huge step" from the private to the public sector. - Kyle Cowan

Gordhan maintains that the country's commitment to meeting NDCs and the JET goals remains in place and will continue to be implemented.

COMMENT: It remains to be seen how international funders, including foreign countries, will react to the instability that has now been created within the power utility. It was De Ruyter, after all, who inspired confidence in these investors. - Azarrah Karrim

Gordhan is going through a long list of Eskom's well-publicised problems. He is yet to directly address De Ruyter's resignation and how he feels about it. - Kyle Cowan

Gordhan: The Minister of FInance has indicated his commitment to take a "significant" part of Eskom's debt. Under his watch, the necessary announcements will made next year when he delivers his budget address. - Azarrah Karrim

COMMENT | De Ruyter resigned because a constant barrage was directed at him by Gwede Mantashe, the minister of energy and mineral resources, who accused him of high treason. Mantashe pushed hard for a questionable agreement with Turkish company Karpowership, to provide temporary additional generation capacity. De Ruyter staunchly opposed this. Why was De Ruyter never defended by the board, the minister nor the president? - Pieter du Toit

COMMENT | Gordhan is right, very little has actually happened to introduce more generation capacity. He is of course, a minister in government with the way to ensure his colleague, energy minister Gwede Mantashe, does exactly that. - Kyle Cowan

Efforts to introduce more megawatts must continue, and DMRE and NERSA must begin to do some extraordinary things and cut red tape, to make investment into new plants easier, Gordhan says. - Kyle Cowan

Gordhan says its important that under the guidance of the new board, and engineers on the board, and others commandeered from the convocation of people who were previously at Eskom "must together implement radical changes" to the generation division of Eskom. - Kyle Cowan

Gordhan says he has 10 points, all of which are important. He starts with an undertaking that the fight against organised corruption and crime in Mpumalanga, will not be affected by De Ruyter's departure. - Kyle Cowan

Gordhan is also seemingly speaking from his car. He is not in the room with the media. - Azarrah Karrim

Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan

Pravin Gordhan: Today is an important milestone in Eskom, but not a positive one, with Andre leaving. He has made a remarkable difference and as he points out, much more needs to be done to turn Eskom around. - Azarrah Karrim

"This is purely to enable the organisation to resume a path, to resume a key role in making sure it can supply SA with electricity. - Kyle Cowan

He intends to take some time off, and spend time with his family - who he has not seen much in the past three years. - Kyle Cowan

De Ruyter thanks Eskom employees  - who he says the vast majority are hard working, competent, and amazing people. - Kyle Cowan

De Ruyter says he will ensure there is a handover to his successor, "whoever that may be." - Azarrah

He says that his departure will allow for the appointment of a more suitable candidate. - Kyle Cowan

De Ruyter confirms that his resignation is linked to his political support waning. - Kyle Cowan

De Ruyter: I am disappointed that I could not achieve all the objectives that I set for myself. The operational and financial challenges, challenges surrounding societal matters - crime and corruption - delivering the unbundling of Eskom. With that said, as the chairman said, I am in a position I am also dependent on the support of the broader political economy and that is critical to enabling the success of Eskom going forward. - Azarrah Karrim

De Ruyter will now address the media. He says he will keep his remarks short, he says it has been an honour and privilege to lead Eskom. "I am obviously disappointed that I had not achieved all the objectives I set for myself." - Kyle Cowan

De Ruyter now speaks: I want to keep my remarks brief today, he begins. - Azarrah Karrim

COMMENT | Makwana is now talking about the board's desire to find a "quick" short-term solution to load shedding. This is dangerous thinking - there is no short-term solution that does not make Eskom's performance over the longer term more tenuous. - Kyle Cowan

Makwana reveals that De Ruyter previously told him he would be reviewing his options after his birthday next year. - Kyle Cowan

Makwana and De Ruyter agreed that De Ruyter would be given a platform to take the public into his confidence. He did not expect De Ruyter to resign as soon as he did. - Azarrah Karrim

Makwana says the board has enjoyed working with De Ruyter, and found him to be "professional and collegial". Makwana says De Ruyter told him on Monday that he intended to resign. Makwana says he accepted the resignation, and De Ruyter "allowed" him to "embark on a consultative process". - Kyle Cowan

Makwana: De Ruyter has taken me into his confidence that he intended to resign on the 12th or 13th as part of a scheduled meeting that we had, I accepted the resignation and agreed with him that he would afford me the opportunity to embark on a consultative process. - Azarrah Karrim

Makwana dives into a highly diplomatic tone: "We believe Eskom is too big and too important to fail." He says they aim to be a "supportive" board. Given criticism that De Ruyter resigned mainly due to a dire lack of political and government support, this comment might not ring true for some. - Azarrah Karrim

Makwana is now talking in Trumpian terms about "LEGA" - Let's make Eskom great again. It's the first time he has used this. - Kyle Cowan

Makwana says the board adopted a mantra of "an engaged board" to provide active, and not passive, support to the executive. - Kyle Cowan

Eskom board chairperson Mpho Makwana

Makwana is now briefing the media. He says the board has met 8 times since they were appointed, and about 30 other meetings of board committee meetings. Nothing relevant to the real business of the day. -Kyle Cowan

COMMENT | Makwana and Gordhan, who appears to be seated in the back of a car, have not even bothered to show up in person. - Kyle Cowan

The media present is a bit shocked that the entire briefing is being held online on a projector in the room. One by one, name cards have been removed from the table in the room, leaving chairperson Mpho Makwana to attend. We now see he, too, together with Gordhan, will appear on a video link. - Azarrah Karrim  

It's 13:30, and the briefing has not started. It appears that De Ruyter is not even out of the door yet but we have returned to the days of his predecessors, where briefings started late, and there was a general distrust and often, disdain, for the media. - Kyle Cowan

It's also noteworthy that there are many more journalists here today than there were for arguably, a more important briefing over the state of the system a month ago. It appears that even while the country is properly fed up with Eskom, it takes a major development like the CEO resigning to get members of the media (other than the people who continuously cover Eskom) interested enough to make the trip. - Kyle Cowan

The last time the media gathered in the Franklin Auditorium was exactly a month ago, on 15 November, when chief operations officer Jan Oberholzer briefed the media on the status of the Eskom system. He offered a grim and transparent outlook for the country's electricity supply, including that Eskom had no more money for diesel having spent more than R12 billion since 1 April. After this briefing, De Ruyter was dressed down by the board, who were apparently furious over the directness of the message Oberholzer had given. It was the start, News24 understands, of tensions between De Ruyter and the new board under the leadership of Makwana. We detail more of what has occurred since Makwana and the board arrived since October in this report. - Kyle Cowan

The briefing is virtual and in person - so it is possible that Gordhan could join virtually. - Kyle Cowan

COMMENT | The last minute delay to the start of the briefing, meant to start at 13:00 and now pushed by 30 minutes, and the removal of Gordhan and De Ruyter's name cards from the table may indicate some last-minute negotiations. It remains to be seen if Gordhan will face the media - or remove himself from the possibility of facing pointed and tough questions around his failure to defend De Ruyter from his cabinet colleague, Gwede Mantashe- Kyle Cowan